Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Of the several great meals we had during our recent trip to Stellenbosch, three truly stood out. In no particular order these were:Indochine, Delaire Graff EstateThe Restaurant, Waterkloof Wine EstateMakaron Restaurant, Majeka HouseWith 6 out of 10 best fine-dining restaurants of South Africa in Stellenbosch and surrounding towns, you will be hard pressed to find a better foodie destination in the country. Many of these restaurants are set in beautiful wine estates making for a nice outing if you decide to go for a bit of wine tasting before your meal.

Stellenbosch - green, sunny, beautiful

If you are planning a visit to South Africa’s Western Cape, make sure to allow plenty of time for the wonderful restaurants, wine estates and the gorgeous scenery along the Stellenbosch Wine Route. And of course – bookmark this page!

Artworks dotted around Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch is a beautiful place and only 45 minutes drive from Cape Town and is an ideal spot for a relaxing holiday, and with great food and wine.The Restaurant, Waterkloof Wine EstateHeaded by French chef Gregory Czarnecki, The Restaurant at the Waterkloof Wine Estate serves lunch and dinner for up to 120 diners per sitting.

The dining room and balconies afford wonderful views of the surrounding valleys and the sea, making it one of the finest spots to take in the beauty of the region over a glass of something tempting.

Waterkloof is a biodynamic winery, and all the grapes are hand picked and sorted. No pesticides or other chemical interventions are used at Waterkloof so the wines produced here are aimed to be a true expression of the varietals used and the local terroir. The wines we tried, although young (mainly 2015 vintage) were well made with good flavour characteristics.

Wine tanks at Waterkloof

The food at Waterkloof was exquisitely presented, with the quality of the ingredients and the cooking skills really in evidence.

We started with a gorgeous ceviche of seabass with shavings of celeriac, snoek (a Cape mackerel), seaweed and bottarga (salted, cured grey mullet roe). This was paired with a glass of “Seriously Cool” Chenin Blanc 2015, an intense and robust white.

Next up was chef Czarnecki’s Crayfish Duglère, his own take on the famous 19th century French chef’s brill recipe, cooked in tomatoes, white wine and crème fraiche. This was my favourite dish of the meal – it was deliciously creamy with chunky pieces of crayfish tail, but still with great refreshing acidity, and beautifully paired with a herbaceous 2015 Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc.

Chicken dishes have to be exceptional to impress me, and fortunately Waterkloof’s succulent chicken breast roasted on the crown lived up to expectations. Served with a terrine made from paper-thin shavings of pumpkin, curry gremolata, pomegranate sauce and pine nuts, this was as good as it gets.

The chicken was cleverly paired with a 2015 Seriously Cool Cinsault (one of the two grape varietals, along with Pinot Noir, that makes the national Pinotage vine) it was great to taste this single varietal which is more usually blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. Served lightly chilled at 14 degrees, this had light tannin and berry fruit aromatics, making a more interesting partner to the chicken than the most obvious white wines.

The restaurant offers 2 and 3 course meals from the a la carte menu at R370 (£17.50) and R480 (£23) and also their 6-course degustation menu for R900/£43 (or R1,100/£52 including wine pairings).

I was hugely impressed by the level of cooking at Waterkloof, and if you are planning one or a few days in Stellenbosch, I would highly recommend this as one of your top fine-dining options.Indochine, Delaire Graff EstateLocated in perhaps the most lavish wine estate in the region, Delaire Graff Estate is owned by British multi-millionaire diamond merchant, art collector and (now) wine maker Laurence Graff.

The grounds are stunning, with artworks dotted throughout the estate, two restaurants and a Relais & Chateaux accredited hotel. The estate is also home to one of the most impressive private art collections in the country, which alone warrants a visit.

These include the iconic 1952 ‘Chinese Girl’ by Vladimir Tretchikoff. Like the Mona Lisa, this is one of the most reproduced and recognized paintings in the world.

I was also thrilled to see so many works by Lionel Smit, one of South Africa’s most talented young artists (until then unknown to me), famous for his huge portrait canvases and sculptures. Smit’s works are truly impressive, more information about his amazing work on his website here.

But most importantly, the food at Delaire Graff Estate is exceptionally good. There are two dining options on the estate – The Delaire Graff Restaurant offering French fine-dining, and its little sister, the Asian inspired Indochine, and this is where we headed for lunch.

The lovely Indochine Restaurant at Delaire Graff Estate

We kicked off with a small tasting trio of some of the restaurant’s signature starters – a Thai mushroom salad containing the veg in many different guises: puréed and soiled (made from dried mushroom, onions and chives), and sautéed Japanese mushrooms, but also chilli jam, rice fritters and red curry paste.

The prawn salad had in addition to the seafood, a crunchy kakiage of squid (a style of tempura), ikura (salmon roe), pickled daikon, chives and avocado puree among other ingredients. The third item was a shiitake & edamame gyoza or potstickers served with a refreshing soy & lemon dressing. I thoroughly enjoyed each item – they were bursting with fresh flavours, and had an incredible composition of many different ingredients that came together as a whole, perfectly balanced.There were two small mains – the beef fillet rendang was gorgeously presented, served in a rich, curried coconut sauce, spiked with lemongrass, chilli and cinnamon, with diced red onions and large tapioca pearls. Better still was the black bean steamed linefish with ginger, quinoa, black garlic, and myriad herbs including Vietnamese coriander (grown in the estate’s greenhouse), Thai basil and mint. The combination of flavours and textures in this dish was in my opinion spot on.

Desserts were also impressive – I liked the beautifully aromatic lime and yuzu tart served with a toasty black sesame macaron crumble. But it was Indochine’s take on the South Asian Gulab Jamun that stole the show for me. Gulam Jamun is a favourite dessert of mine made from milk solids (cooked milk until water is completely evaporated) then kneaded into small balls or donuts, deep-fried and soaked in sugar syrup scented with rose water. At Indochine, the gulab jamun donuts were flavoured in cardamom syrup, and were accompanied by coconut panna cotta, saffron and rose water jellies, ginger, cardamom ice cream and coconut soil. Dessert heaven!

To accompany our meal, we tried two of Delaire Graff Estate’s wines – their 2015 Summercourt Chardonnay and Shiraz. The chardonnay was surprisingly tropical with good minerality and a touch of French oak, a perfect accompaniment to our starters.

Likewise, the Shiraz, with ripe berry fruit and prominent peppery notes expected from the varietal stood up beautifully to the rich beef rendang, a great match.A visit to the Delaire Graff Estate is a must to anyone in Stellenbosch – the gorgeous setting, private artwork and exquisite food and wines will make for a great day out and I highly recommend it.Makaron Restaurant, Majeka HouseI was so pleased to discover that the food and wine offerings at Majeka House were on par with their stunning accommodation and setting.

We were lucky to spend a night at Majeka House and experience their hospitality as well as reputedly the ‘best’ breakfast in South Africa but more on that later.

Majeka House’s thoughtfulness on the hotel and room designs was impressive – I was pleased to see international sockets in the rooms (so no adapters required), coffee capsule machines, complimentary filtered water and freshly baked cookies on arrival as well as Gourmet and Food & Home magazines in each of the rooms. These are little things that show a real eye for detail and go beyond most people’s expectations.

My room was beautifully designed and comfortable, with all the amenities of the finest hotels including a huge fresco-style nature print on the ceiling, the last and very first thing I got to see as I went to bed and woke up at Majeka House.

In addition, Majeka House has a fantastic indoor swimming pool and spa where I was given a back and shoulder massage – I remember it being ever so relaxing but little else as I fell asleep 10 minutes into it! The spa offers a comprehensive range of treatments to residents.

I loved my stay at Majeka House for all the above reasons but it was their kitchen that really sold it to me. The Makaron Restaurant within Majeka House is a serious restaurant attracting both residents and non-residents since 2008.

They make everything in-house from churning their butter, to the bread and their French patisserie and jams. I was told to make time for breakfast at Majeka House and was so pleased that I did, getting up an hour earlier to give it my undivided attention, I was not disappointed.

So happy to see my favourite - vetkoek (Fat Cakes) at Majenka House

And what a spread - I loved the cannelles, the cheeses and cold meats, the Mimosa section (of course) and the perfectly cooked eggs benedict.

It was a joy to have freshly baked pastries and breads and the coffee was good and strong.

We checked into Majeka House on a Sunday and just in time to enjoy their Sunday Roast menu, usually only available at lunchtime and priced at a reasonable R185 or £9 per person.

The set menu includes roast beef sirloin, served with carrots and horseradish puree, duck fat roast potatoes, baby courgettes and Parmesan, and a green leaf salad. Despite the familiarity and apparent simplicity of the menu, the quality of the ingredients and the cooking really shone through – the beef was succulent and beautifully cooked as were the accompaniments.

We also go to try some of the starters from the a la carte menu – I enjoyed the rainbow beets and goats cheese Chantilly starter (£3.80), it had a variety of coloured beets prepared in different ways so offered a range of textures and earthy, tangy flavours.

The Parmesan risotto with truffle (£4) was also excellent – creamy, cheesy and rich with heady scent and flavour of truffles.

After a stunning selection of cheeses and preserves, we tried two of their desserts – the one that stood out for me was their coconut, lime and granadilla (an Andean passion fruit) option (£4).

Fresh, zingy and sweet all at once, it had a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness, and contrasting textures with crunchy pastries, creamy sorbets, mousses - a real symphony of a dessert.

As Majeka House is not a wine producer their drinks list is not limited to a single vineyard, in fact their wine list is one of the most comprehensive I have seen in Stellenbosch. I enjoyed their 2014 Stellenrust ‘50’ Chenin Blanc (£13.50/bottle) as well as the 2014 Longridge Pinotage (£12.50/bottle) served with our dinner.The Makaron Restaurant at Majeka House is a serious restaurant, serving some of the best food in Stellenbosch. The care and quality of the ingredients and cooking expertise are very apparent and I also highly recommend it as one of my top 3 spots for a meal in the area.Stellenblog 2016The Stellenblog campaign was created and sponsored by the Stellenbosch Wine Routes, Stellenbosch 360 and Destinate in partnership with iambassador. The London Foodie has maintained full editorial control over all content published as always.In the coming few weeks, I will be sharing with you my Cape Town and #Stellenblog adventures, as well as my top recommendations for restaurants and wineries in the region. My fellow international bloggers will be posting their thoughts too, so do check in on Rob of Stop Having a Boring Life, Marvin Schoenberg of NiedBlog, Kiersten of The Blong Abroad, Twiggy Mollison of Sleepless in Soweto and Meruschka Govender of Mzansi Girl for further insights.

About Me

Born in Brazil to Japanese and Italian parents, educated in the UK, a true Londoner. Former investment banker turned Cordon Bleu trained chef, food, wine and travel writer, Japanophile and Supper Club host in Islington.

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